LeBron is perfect, but Kyrie Irving is the one getting the call in crunch time

Looking at the box score from the Cleveland Cavaliers’ triumphant Game 4 series-sweeping win over the Toronto Raptors, you’d understand just how important (and amazing) LeBron James was. The greatest player in the world finished with 35 points on 50 percent shooting. He added nine rebounds and six assists. It was a vintage performance from the best player of the last two decades.

But when the game needed to be put away, James handed the ball off.

It was Kyrie Irving’s turn, and when you need someone to create points from nothing, there’s no one better at it.

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It was Irving the Cavaliers turned to in the fourth quarter of Sunday's game, Irving the one they knew could close it out. With 6 minutes remaining in the game and the Cavaliers up just two, the team put the ball into Irving’s hands and told him to go and get a win.

He started with a 3-pointer. Then grabbed a rebound and drew a foul from DeMar DeRozan, making both free throws. Then a driving layup, beating his man senseless. Then he got to the line again. Another time down the floor, another man dribbled, another layup. It had been two minutes. The Cavaliers’ two-point lead was now an eight-point lead and Irving had scored 11 straight points. And not just any two minutes – the two most crucial minutes of the game when the Raptors were as focused defensively as they would ever be. A LeBron dagger 3 a minute later would effectively see the game out and close out the series.

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James had been the one carrying the Cavaliers up to that point. He had played as efficiently and brilliantly as he could. But when the Raptors defense tightened up and the Cavaliers needed someone to make a basket, he had the confidence to put the ball in Irving’s hands.

It’s a unique skill set, Irving’s, but one that is so absolutely needed at the end of games. James has always worked best as a part of a total offense. He’s the fulcrum, the anchor point who is at his best when the ball is moving, defenders are off-balance and he’s able to use his once-in-a-lifetime combination of vision, skill and athleticism to pick out the right play and devastate a defense.

James isn’t at his best when guys are standing around and taking turns. He too often settles for pull-up jumpers or tries to force something. It’s just never been a part of his game. In the early days with Dwyane Wade and the Heat, we saw it – James simply prefers to play in an offense where people are moving the ball.

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Irving doesn’t need that. Irving just needs a basketball and a guy to beat. He can be excellent in a crisp offense – he’s a great passer and can find the open man. But the Cavs point guard is just as comfortable in an isolation situation, the rest of the team clearing out and there being one goal: Get past your man and get to the hoop.

Outside of maybe John Wall, there’s no one in the league with a more devastating first step, and there’s no one in the league better at finishing at the hoop in a mass of bodies. Late in games, when defenses tighten up, when those passing lanes are closing and the Cavaliers can’t run their offense as they like to, Irving is the one-man solution, the guy who makes everything OK.

He doesn’t need the offense to run. He just needs a defender to beat.

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This isn’t to say that Irving is more important than James or some such thing – it’s just that his game is uniquely suited to what is needed in crunch time in the fourth quarter. A knock placed on James throughout his career, a stupid knock but a knock all the same, is that he can't finish games out. That’s silly, as he had won plenty of games, but the kernel of truth at its heart is that James is a better player in the context of a passing offense. He's not at his best trying to go one-on-one every time down the court, which is often what’s needed late in games.

Irving is at his best when he needs to go one-on-one every time down the court. They’ve reached a beautiful point, these two – James can conduct the offense until the fourth quarter, then free up Irving to create those crucial few buckets when they’re most needed.

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Too many teams in this league have only one option when they need a bucket late. You see it all over the league. It’s doomed the Celtics on several nights this season -- when teams managed to bottle up Isaiah Thomas, they didn’t have another option.

The Cavaliers don’t have that problem. Defenses have to respect James, as he is, again, the greatest player on Earth, but that frees up that few feet of space on the court for Irving, which is all he needs. (We haven’t even mentioned Kevin Love, who’s also providing a shooting threat that defenses have to respect, giving Irving another little bit of space.)

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Irving has become the perfect complement, the final nail in the coffin. Part of James’ brilliance has always been recognizing when his teammate can do the job better than he can – and in crunch time, he’s realized that Irving is the best man for the job.